Two Beers and a Pretzel

After the disappointing news about the solar charger, I had to get to the bus station.  I did just gen an e-mail reply from Solio support offering to take it back, or a 40% discount on a new charger.  …Better than nothing, but neither option helps this trip much.  I’ll probably ship the old one back so they can fix it and I’ll have it again someday waaaay in the future.

Back to the travel report…  Buenos Aires has a big bus station, which was nice since it started raining..

Almost all of the buses here a luxury double-deckers.  I got in and thought “holy crap, this is like 1st class on an airplane”.  It was actually slighly smaller than 1st class, but I had booked the “exectivo class” bus.  A normal bus has 4 seats per row, similar to the buses I took around Brazil with Rafa.  Executivo buses have 3 seats per row  and recline a bit farther back.  This bus also gave you pillows, a blanket, and included all meals – so we never had to stop.  There’s actually one higher tier of bus where the seats lay completely flat for just a little more money, but those buses don’t run as frequently.

My bus was a little late to the station, so we departed around 3:30pm.  I kicked back as they put the “Jumper” DVD on.  It was a predictable and pretty stupid movie, but it passes 90 minutes of time.  Then I put on the iPod and started reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  I’d never read a Harry Potter book before.  It’s not bad, but I’ve seen the movie already, and you should always read the book before seeing the movie whenever possible.  I reclined and streached out, enjoying the legroom.

There was a really cool sunset that was impossible to photograph from the rain-stained window of a moving bus.  Dramatic clouds in front of us with the sun popping out from gaps oin the clouds to seemingly light everything on fire, drizzle over us, and dark clouds behind with a huge double rainbow.  The bus was travelling on a slowly winding road, so my view would alternate between a fiery sunset, gray and brown landscape, and a fading rainbow against charcoal gray clouds.  Very cool.

I fell asleep around 2:30 am and was startled awake at 8:30 by the steward (young guy with a multi-colored mullet) poking at me and placing a breakfast tray in my face.  I guess they don’t train them as well as the airlines do – or he gets paid per tray that he hands out…

I looked out the window to see a barren plain.  Then we crested a low hill and there was the Atlantic Ocean.

About 15 minutes later we arrived in Puerto Madryn, where I caught a cab to my hostel.  It’s about 11:30 here now and rougly 45-50 degrees farenheight.  It’s actually a nice change of weather.

I have tours booked for tomorrow, but nothing today.  The hostel owner offered to rent me a pretty nice mountain bike and point me toward the Elephant Seal preserve 17 kilometers South of here.  Sounds like a plan…